Wolf holds lead, leaves pack to howl at moon

State Treasurer Robert McCord, left, of Montgomery County, former state Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty of Chester County, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, and York County businessman and former state Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf, are the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett’s bid for re-election, speaking during a free public forum hosted by Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster Pa., Thursday May. 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Intelligencer Journal,Chris Knight)

Boy, you hate to say this Democratic race for governor is over, but if Allyson Schwartz, Rob McCord or Katie McGinty plans to catch York businessman Tom Wolf, well, they had better hurry.

Three weeks to the May 20 primary election, and Mr. Wolf is holding his huge lead, according to the latest poll, released Thursday by The Morning Call and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.

The poll had Mr. Wolf with the support of 38 percent of likely Democratic voters, Ms. Schwartz, the Philadelphia area congresswoman, 13 percent, Mr. McCord, the state treasurer, 11 percent, and Ms. McGinty, the former environmental secretary, 2 percent. A third of likely voters remain undecided, but Mr. Wolf is getting most of the leaners, too.

The poll of 417 likely voters was done between Monday and Wednesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

It is difficult to see how Mr. Wolf can lose now, even if his fellow Democrats are starting to knock him around quite a bit.

At a forum in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Mr. McCord and Ms. Schwartz faulted Mr. Wolf for backing the 2001 re-election campaign of York Mayor Charlie Robertson, who shouted “white power!” as a young police officer during York’s 1969 race riots, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

At the time, Mr. Wolf said he would continue to serve as Mr. Robertson’s honorary campaign chairman, but Mr. Robertson dropped his bid when he was charged with a three-decade-old murder. He was acquitted.

Mr. Wolf called the attacks “desperate” and “disgraceful,” and said he had not talked to Mr. Robertson since the campaign, according to the Inquirer.

Ms. Schwartz also has questioned the $10 million loan Mr. Wolf took out to fund his campaign and challenged him to release the loan documents, which he did. At a forum Thursday, Ms. Schwartz raised Mr. Wolf’s support of former state Rep. Steve Stetler, a friend convicted of using House staffers for politics on state time. In a TV commercial, Mr. McCord questions why the cabinets Mr. Wolf’s company sells are made in Indiana.

The attacks signal serious worry, but it will take weeks of pounding to even close the gap while Mr. Wolf keeps running commercials. Catching up is unlikely, and Gov. Tom Corbett’s campaign knows it. The Corbett campaign started airing a commercial attacking Mr. Wolf this week by jabbing at Mr. Wolf’s Jeep. It’s a good ad.

The Corbett camp either really doesn’t want to run against Mr. Wolf and is attacking him to help some other Democrat win, or they know Mr. Wolf will win the primary election and they’re using all the millions they have to start softening him up. Or both.

The other Democrats have only themselves to blame.

As this column said might happen weeks ago, Mr. Wolf just got too far ahead too early with television commercials that got everybody talking, and his rivals let him do that free and clear for too long.

“Tom Wolf’s ads are nice, but they’re far from the whole truth,” Mr. McCord says in one of his latest commercials.

True, but he knows why his campaign stands where it stands. Mr. McCord’s and the other candidates’ commercials aren’t bad, but none have connected so far the same way Mr. Wolf’s did.

A few weeks ago, you could have argued the others trailed Mr. Wolf by 26 points because their ads hadn’t had a chance to work. Now, it’s clear their ads made a difference. Their numbers are up, but the gap is still gigantic.

We’re talking Pennsylvania politics here, and crazy comebacks happen, but this doesn’t look like one of those times.

The more, the merrier

A brain freeze caused us to overlook a couple of obvious contenders for county executive if voters approve a new form of government in the May 20 primary election.

■ Carbondale Mayor Justin Taylor: He’s not planning to run for mayor again, and he’s long wanted to move up. He testified before the government study commission in December. He said he’s glad the commission recommended the council-executive form and called the commissioner form the worst form of government besides a dictatorship, according to commission meeting minutes.

■ Former Scranton Cultural Center Executive Director Joseph Peters: Well, he’s available. He toyed with running for Congress and Scranton mayor, but he’s never pulled the trigger. He has lived in Wyoming County for years, but he’s from Scranton and could establish a residence here.

■ Former Commissioner Randy A. Castellani: Another one who offered testimony against the current form of government. If not county executive, he could seek a council seat. He would have to convince voters he won’t walk away from elected office as he did when he resigned as minority commissioner in 2005.

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